A young man is held pinned to the floor, a gun pressed to the side of his head. One of the interrogators is Mabius. He shows the young man a photograph of a Japanese man, Steven Takahashi.

MAN: {I've never seen him. I'm telling the truth. If he checked in last night ... maybe room 421.}

Mabius hands the photo to his subordinate. Then puts his foot on the young man's back, puts his gun, with silencer, to the man's head, just behind the ear.

MAN: {Don't do this.}

Mabius pulls the trigger.

Mabius and subordinate move into a corridor. A figure, Mr Takahashi, appears at the further end of the corridor and opens an exit door. Mabius and subordinate chase after him. They emerge onto the fire escape and see Mr Takahashi running down the alley.

Mr Takahashi emerges onto a crowded street, where there are market stalls. He's carrying a small, red object concealed by his jacket. He looks around anxiously as he pushes through the crowd. He goes to a market stall, but then sees Mabius. When Mabius reaches the market stall, Mr Takahashi is gone. Mabius and his subordinate walk slowly through the market, passing a group of people demonstrating martial arts skills with swords. There is no sign of Mr Takahashi, but when Mabius and friend hear a car engine starting, they run in that direction. They emerge out onto the street and see a car being driven away at speed.

Back in the market, one of the martial arts people collapses onto the ground. It's Mr Takahashi - who had placed the red object, a bowl, on the ground. He picks up the bowl, tucks it inside his jacket, and staggers away.

The Buddhist temple. Mr Takahashi staggers inside and drops the bowl. One of the monks gets up and goes over to him.

MONK: {Are you all right?}

Mr Takahashi is lying on the ground. Next to him is the red bowl, a chip missing from the rim. The monk picks up the bowl.

In the hold. Wooden crates are being opened. Hollis looks inside one - full of purses. One of the police officers checks another crate - it contains small red bowls. Then another police officer sees something in the crate he is checking and starts to gag. He puts his hand over his mouth and races for the outside. Hollis and two of the police officers shine their flashlights on the crate. Packed in ice are five very small hands.

Computer screen showing garbled words.

DOUG: You know you're not supposed to install personal software on Bureau equipment.

Frank and Doug, the FBI tech guy, are in Doug's lab.

DOUG: Nina Samurai Princess?

FRANK: My daughter's.

DOUG: Well, somehow Nina exposed this.

He points to the computer screen.

DOUG: Some resident program that's not supposed to be there.

FRANK: A virus?

DOUG: I'll say. God knows what it's doing, but it does seem to be addressed to you.

FRANK: So someone is targeting me.

DOUG: Any idea who that might be?

Frank shakes his head. Then the two men turn when the door opens. It's Hollis.

HOLLIS: Frank. I've been looking all over for you. Can you join us upstairs?

FRANK: What is it?

HOLLIS: Can you come to conference three as soon as possible.

Frank walks towards the door.

DOUG: Leave it here. I'll take a real look at it if you want.

Frank hands him Jordan's computer game.

FRANK: Thank you.

FBI conference room. Hollis, Frank and other agents. A slide of the little hands in the ice.

McCLAREN: These were uncovered in the course of a Bureau raid led by Agent Hollis. Now, we received a tip that the vessel was carrying counterfeit merchandise, which was true. The hands were an unexpected discovery.

Another slide.

McCLAREN: And while the origin of the vessel is Japanese, the hands are Caucasoid. They're roughly two years old in size, and all apparently male. Agent Hollis?

HOLLIS: The captain and crew quickly confessed to the handbags, although they seemed genuinely surprised by the other cargo. We've returned the crew to the boat, hoping for an appearance of normalcy, although it seems unlikely that whoever was going to meet the cargo will do so now.

Frank has picked up a red bowl in an evidence bag. He has a vision: a red bowl, oriental characters.

McCLAREN: I'm sure you're wondering where the tip-off on the boat came from.

HOLLIS: Everyone is.

McCLAREN: Would you like to know?

HOLLIS: I don't know how to conduct an investigation without knowing.

McCLAREN: I'm asking, can I tell you in confidence?

HOLLIS: Yes.

McCLAREN: The tip-off came to me directly from a Bureau undercover agent. That's how I got the case. That's how you got assigned. Only it turns out the agent never said it.

HOLLIS: Who did?

McCLAREN: Obviously someone familiar with our internal procedures. We're keeping this quiet until we can piece things together. pause Now, can I tell you something in total confidence?

Hollis thinks.

HOLLIS: Total confidence?

McCLAREN: No games, Hollis. I'm saying, if you keep your mouth shut from this moment on, you can step up. That means, tell no-one.

HOLLIS: You mean Frank.

McCLAREN: I need a commitment.

Hollis is uncertain. She sits down.

HOLLIS: Yeah. Ok. You can tell me.

Lab. The hands in ice.

PATHOLOGIST: There's no sign of trauma to the tissue. The hands are remarkably even, unblemished. No necrotic breakdown.

HOLLIS: Meaning what?

McCLAREN: Have a look.

Hollis looks through a microscope at a slide of moving cells.

HOLLIS: What is that?

McCLAREN: They're growing.

Monastery. Mr Takahashi is shaking more than before. The monk is within him. A junior monk brings in a wooden case-like object which he puts on the floor. The monk touches it, reverently. It has the same characters as on the ship.

fade to black

polaroid fade up

Laptop computer. The screen shows pictures of the small hands. One image is enlarged and scanned and the resultant fingerprint displayed. Hollis searches the birth records database. No match. Hollis is sat in the briefing room, alone. Just as she tries another search, a man enters the room and stands close to her, looking at the screen. Hollis is a little startled.

WATTS: Red lacquer bowls. They don't make these any more. The lacquer is loaded with metal - gold dust, mercury. It's designed to reflect the subtleties of candlelight. Electric light killed these. It's a dead art now.

Hollis sighs.

WATTS: Things come and go. The old makes way for the new.

Hollis sighs again.

WATTS: Nothing sinister about it, Hollis.

HOLLIS: You're forgetting. I know what you do.

WATTS: Really? I'd say you never bothered to find out.

He smiles at her. Hollis stands and grabs her jacket.

HOLLIS: Let me know when you're out of here.

She closes her laptop with a definite click, and leaves.

Computer screen showing garbled words.

DOUG: OK. I ran it by this virus guru friend of mine and he'd never seen anything like it.

He's speaking into the phone.

DOUG: It's impossible to say what it's up to because it keeps rewriting itself.

Frank is driving.

FRANK: A snake eating its own tail.

Frank has arrived at the docks.

DOUG: That's one way to put it.

FRANK: Look, how did it get on to my machine.

DOUG: Ah, I'll need your help on that. It's who you've plugged into, who have they plugged into, and so on, ad infinitum. Unless you've got some idea who sicked this on you.

Frank stops his jeep by the ship. He gets out and walks up the gangway, pausing to look at the characters painted on the ship. He looks around the main deck, then goes over to a ladder. A harbor cop lies with head injuries, bloodstains on the metal steps. Frank looks closer - there's a bullet hole behind the man's ear. Frank steps back and buttons up his leather jacket. The dead man's hands are tied behind his back. Frank goes into the wheelhouse/cabin area. Papers are strewn around. The captain and a crewman are dead on the floor - bound and shot. Frank goes into the hold and looks in some of the crates. He pauses, thinking, then sees a small shard of red pottery on the floor. He picks it up. Vision: drops of blood, a red bowl with a piece missing, the prow of a ship surrounded by flames, a cloth-bound body in flames.

The monastery. The monk dips his fingers into some water in a red lacquer bowl - which has a chip out of it.

MONK: Oh son of noble family.

He holds his hand over Mr Takahashi.

MONK: You now have arrived at that thing called death. Listen carefully. You are not alone. All who have gone before you have died. But do not be afraid. Listen without distraction.

The monk removes the top of the wooden object, uncovering pages with oriental characters.

The ship. FBI agent taking photographs.

FRANK to Hollis: Millennium Group executions.

HOLLIS: You think these guys knew more than they said?

FRANK: No, just crew. Someone tossed the whole boat looking for something missing. After you found the hands. I think that the harbor cops surprised them, came on them unexpectedly. Forced a showdown. Who tipped you off about this in the first place?

Hollis looks down.

HOLLIS: McClaren assigned me. I guess he got a tip from somewhere, but it's not exactly open where it came from.

FRANK: I think something is missing. About the hands.

HOLLIS: I'm trying to find out where they came from, so far with no luck.

FRANK: You know what I think you need to do? The same thing I've been trying to do. Is set aside my preconceptions. Start over.

Hollis' laptop. She modifies the search on the fingerprints, this time searching on all records. There's a partial match. The record is Mr Takahashi's. This shows that he was employed from 1998 to 1993 by Emergen Corp. Recent publications: 1993 "Transubstantiation of the Human Species:
Biology as the New Alchemy"; 1990 "Human Immune response - A Pharmacological Study; 1987 "Genetic Factors in Growth Environments". The "General" section isn't shown clearly, but includes:
"Takahashi was previously a military doctor. He has been ...
the last twenty years with six charges of fraud and ...
has been sued in D.C. Virginia and Maryland have ...
for malpractice. The Medical Association ...
instances of misuse of prescriptions and ....

McClaren's office. Hollis hands a printout to McClaren.

HOLLIS: Dr Steven Takahashi.

McCLAREN: No, Hollis. This doesn't make sense. Fingerprints don't work this way.

HOLLIS: He's of Japanese descent. A biologist.

McCLAREN: He's a full grown man. We have five kids' hands.

HOLLIS: I know that.

McCLAREN: And it's not even a match. It's a partial.

HOLLIS: Six points.

McCLAREN: What are you even saying here?

HOLLIS: I think we should bring Frank in on this.

McCLAREN: No, no, that's out of the question.

HOLLIS: Sir, I think he's -

McCLAREN: Out of the question. Did you hear me that time?

Hollis sighs, a little exasperated.

HOLLIS: Well, you're not going to like this suggestion either, but, given the method of execution on that boat, I don't want the Millennium Group consulting on this.

McCLAREN: Well, they're not. They're not doing anything for us right now.

HOLLIS: Peter Watts was here.

McCLAREN: Well, I don't see how. When this thing broke, I checked his availability. They said he was in Montana someplace.

Hollis quickly gets to her feet and runs out of McClaren's office.

McCLAREN: Hollis?

Hollis goes into the room where she was working. She looks over the evidence bags, then notices something in the wastebasket. She pulls out an empty evidence bag labeled "red lacquer bowl". She crumples the bag, angry.

HOLLIS: Stupid. Stupid.

Shard of bowl being examined through a magnifying glass. Frank is in a pottery shop.

SHOPKEEPER: The finish appears to be Bunsei style. Popular in Edo during the late Tokugawa period. Early 1800s.

FRANK: So it's old.

SHOPKEEPER: It appears old but the bowl itself could have been made yesterday.

FRANK: Do you see many of these?

SHOPKEEPER: I don't see any. The Japanese aren't fond of false antiquities.

FRANK: Can you tell me anything about its finish?

SHOPKEEPER: Well, I'll need a day.

Frank notices of piece of wood - carved with the same characters as on the boat.

FRANK: Those characters - where are they from?

The shopkeeper doesn't answer.

Later. Frank holds a piece of paper on which the characters have been drawn. He is standing outside the door of the monastery, which has the characters carved in it. He pushes open the door and goes into the main room. A solitary monk is kneeling before the statue of the Buddha. There is the same chanting as before. Frank looks down and sees very small pieces of red pottery on the floor. He picks up a piece and looks at it closely. A vision, as before. He walks closer to the statue. There are footsteps behind him - the senior monk.

MONK: Come.

The monk turns and Frank follows him along a candle-lit corridor into the room where Mr Takahashi is lying. His condition is much worse - the blistering has spread up his arm to his neck.

MR. TAKAHASHI: Frank Black. You've come.

fade to black

polaroid fade up

Lab. Hands in ice.

PATHOLOGIST: Partial match? Partial match to what?

HOLLIS: One of the hands.

PATHOLOGIST: It's meaningless, Hollis. Run the database - you get more than a dozen matches like that.

HOLLIS: No, just this one.

PATHOLOGIST: Pure coincidence. Ask McClaren.

HOLLIS: Well, you tell me then. Where do you think they came from?

PATHOLOGIST: To tell you the truth, I try not to think about it.

HOLLIS: Look at this.

She shows him the case file.

HOLLIS: Takahashi published every few years. Then in 1993, one last paper, and he drops out of sight. "Transubstantiation of the Human Species: Biology as the New Alchemy".

PATHOLOGIST: I've seen a thousand titles just like that on the internet. pauses Hey, wait.

He indicates one section of the report.

HOLLIS: His last known place of employment, five years ago. I've been trying to track it down.

The pathologist goes over to the side of the lab and picks up a copy of 'New Scientist'. He finds a particular page and shows it to Hollis. It's an advertisement for a Lab Technician for Emergen Corp and lists the address in Arlington, VA.

HOLLIS: What do they do, Emergen Corp?

PATHOLOGIST: That's what I remember about the ad. Doesn't say.

Monastery

FRANK: How do you know me?

MR. TAKAHASHI: You left the Millennium Group.

FRANK: You're a member?

MR. TAKAHASHI: I let them use my work. I didn't know it was going to go this far. I let the FBI know. I had nowhere else to turn.

FRANK: The hands on the boat. Is that what you call your work?

MR. TAKAHASHI: I made it possible. It is so far ahead. The Group is.

FRANK: From what? What are they doing?

MR. TAKAHASHI: Their plan.

FRANK: "We are racing toward an apocalypse of our own creation". Is that how it starts?

MR. TAKAHASHI: They never let me see it. I thought you would know.

FRANK: So you didn't send me the virus?

MR. TAKAHASHI: What virus?

FRANK: The computer virus. That's what brought me here.

MR. TAKAHASHI: I thought you came here to help me. That somehow you knew. That's what they said about you. That's what I always heard about you.

Office building, Virginia. Hollis exits the elevator on the floor of Emergen Corp offices. A poster on the wall reads: A Woman's Choice. She enters through the door marked "clinic". A receptionist hands Hollis a form.

RECEPTIONIST: Fill this out. If you don't know your exact date of conception, we will determine it for you.

HOLLIS: Oh.

Monastery. The senior monk sits down beside Frank. Mr Takahashi's condition as further worsened - the blistering has now spread to his face.

FRANK: How did he get here?

MONK: Like you, he found his way here. There is nothing more painful than thinking there is no point to the suffering you are going through.

FRANK: I can't help him with that.

MONK: He believes you can. He gives you a gift. An opportunity to help him. With his death. With his future life. A chance to find out why you are here.

Hollis is exploring the clinic. She walks down a corridor and a man comes out through a door marked "No Admittance". He takes no notice of Hollis and walks off. Hollis sneaks in through the door. She notices a red drum marked "biohazard". It has a padlock on it, but it's not closed. She opens the lid. A package inside has a label: For Delivery 5312 Ogden Parkway, Arlington. The package contains several long, thin pieces of tissue, in ice.

The pottery shop. The shopkeeper is chipping off small flakes from the pottery shard. The shop door opens.

CUSTOMER: {I'm looking for a red lacquer bowl.}

SHOPKEEPER: {Yes.}

CUSTOMER: {I'm told this shop is the best. That you are the master. Do you want to know what kind of bowl I'm looking for?}

The shopkeeper keeps his hand closed over the pottery pieces.

SHOPKEEPER: {Yes. What kind?}

CUSTOMER: {Bunsei style.}

The customer is Mabius.

MABIUS: {Early nineteenth century.}

He indicates the size of the bowl with his hands.

MABIUS: {About this wide, this deep. A thin line along the rim. Can you help me?}

SHOPKEEPER: {I haven't seen anything like that.}

MABIUS: {Too bad.}

Mabius grabs the shopkeeper's hand, smashing it down and breaking the glass top of the counter, and then stabs him through the wrist, pinning his arm to the wooden surround. As the shopkeeper cries out in pain, Mabius calmly picks up the pottery pieces from the man's hand.

McClaren's office. The phone rings.

McCLAREN: McClaren.

HOLLIS: Sir.

McCLAREN: Hollis, where in the hell are you?

Hollis in her car. Night.

HOLLIS: 5312 Ogden Parkway, Arlington. Some kind of research facility, I think. I need a search warrant for this place.

McCLAREN: Based on what?

HOLLIS: I intercepted some human tissue that was supposed to be delivered here. Umbilical cords.

McCLAREN: Intercepted, meaning you stole it?

HOLLIS: From a clinic called Emergen. Takahashi, that fingerprint match, worked here five years ago.

McCLAREN: And the hands are two years old. Hollis, I told you to drop all this.

HOLLIS: Sir. We've got five growing hands. Somehow they came into existence and one of them matches that man.

McCLAREN: What are you saying? That they're grown from him? Built? What?

HOLLIS: All I know is, I've got stem cells here in a black case. What life comes from. Packaged just like those hands.

Hollis has the black case in her car.

McCLAREN: Ok, Hollis. You wait right there. Don't move. You hear me?

HOLLIS: Yes, sir.

McCLAREN: I'm on my way.

Mabius is in the street outside the monastery. He looks around the empty, dark street, then knocks on the door. There is no response.

Inside, the monk is reading from the prayer book. Frank hears the banging on the door, then the monk hears it.

Outside, Mabius is trying to force the door.

Inside, Frank looks enquiringly at the monk. The blistering on Mr Takahashi's face has spread even more. The blisters pulsate.

fade to black

polaroid fade up

Outside the research lab. Hollis is watching the building. A delivery truck arrives and enters the loading bay where several men stand waiting. The men start loading black cases into the truck. Hollis watches through the chain-link fence. She climbs up onto a garbage bin and over the top of the fencing. She gets closer to the loading bay, but then moves away as a security guard comes out.

Monastery. The monk continues to read from the prayer book.

MONK: Oh son of noble family. Listen without distraction. Now that thing called death is upon you.

He pauses, and listens to the banging on the door.

FRANK: Tell us something, will you? What did you do for them? What do they want from you?

MONK: Do not be afraid. But know everything you experience, beautiful or terrifying, is a mere projection of your own mind.

Mabius is now using a jemmy to try and open the door.

MONK VO: Soon the wrath of deities will appear before you. The path of destruction from the sins you have accumulated.

Mabius fails to force open the door, and turns his attention to an access to the air conditioning system.

MONK VO: Now is the time to recognize these as manifestations of your own fierce pride.

Mabius has pried off the top of the access and climbs down inside.

MONK VO: Now is the time to turn away.

Research lab. Hollis has entered the building. She walks quickly down a corridor with windows into the labs. A woman working in a lab sees her go past. The woman comes out into the corridor and watches Hollis suspiciously.

Monastery.

MONK: Oh son of noble family. Now you will see the dawning luminosity. Recognize it for what it is. A natural awareness of your own energy. Understand and you are liberated.

Mabius crawls through the metal channels of the aircon system.

MONK VO: Do not cling to fear, or the bright light of accumulated sins. But do not try to flee it, either.

Frank is aware of Mabius' approach.

FRANK: Steven. Steven. Steven Takahashi. Listen, they're here now, but you're not alone. I'm going to be here with you when they come. I know what you've been going through. I know what they've done. They've confused you. They've taken all of the goodness that you know is inside of you, and twisted it, against your intent. Used it against you. Don't let them confuse you now. This is the time to undo what you've done.

TAKAHASHI: The bowl.

Frank looks over at the chipped red bowl.

Research lab. Hollis walks down a corridor. Behind her, the woman and a couple of security guards are running towards her. Hollis hears their footsteps, and turns, holding up her ID.

HOLLIS: Federal investigator. Stop right there!

They keep walking. Hollis draws her gun.

HOLLIS: I said stop!

This time they stop and the security guards raise their hands. Behind Hollis, another security guard emerges from a room. Hollis whirls round.

HOLLIS: You too. Stop right there. Now move over there with them. Do it! Hands away from the body.

The man complies.

HOLLIS: OK. Now, one at a time, starting with you, drop your weapon.

The man looks over to his colleagues.

HOLLIS: Eyes on me! Put down your weapon!

McClaren and agents have just entered the building. McClaren sees the situation and runs towards Hollis.

McCLAREN: Hollis!

HOLLIS: Now!

GUARD: We don't have any weapons.

McClaren runs through the group of guards and up to a rather stunned Hollis. He takes the gun out of Hollis' hand.

McCLAREN: I said wait.

Monastery. Mabius breaks through a cover over an air duct.

FRANK: Forget the bowl. Forget the Group. They've stood everything on its head. Because they don't trust the clear voice you heard inside you. Trust that voice. Listen to that voice. They have no hold over you.

Mabius is in the candle-lit corridor. Monks are kneeling in prayer. Mabius puts the silencer on his gun. He ignores the monks, who turn back to their prayers.

FRANK: You've done everything you can do now. They can come.

Mabius walks down the corridor.

FRANK: Let them.

A monk comes out from a room. Mabius punches him in the face. He walks on, past the praying monks, and opens a door.

Mr Takahashi's blistered hand is now black. Frank looks briefly over his shoulder as Mabius opens the door. The monk sprinkles water from the bowl over Mr Takahashi.

FRANK: Recognize them for what they are and they cannot defeat you.

MONK: Understand - and you are liberated.

Mabius walks over and puts his gun to Mr Takahashi's head, then moves it to Frank's head, just behind his ear.

FRANK: You can't hurt him. He's dead.

Mabius looks at Mr Takahashi. Then slowly bends down and drops a small piece of red pottery on to the floor. He picks up the red bowl, bows towards Mr Takahashi, and leaves.

MONK: Look.

Blood drips down the pillow.

MONK: The consciousness is liberated through the head. It is a good sign.

Research lab. Hollis, followed by McClaren and other agents, enters the loading bay. The vehicle is not longer there.

HOLLIS: They left while we were in there.

McCLAREN: Hollis, no one left.

HOLLIS: I saw a step van pull in here. They were loading black cases.

McCLAREN: Hollis, the people that work in this building do medical testing for an HMO.

HOLLIS: That's what they say.

McCLAREN: That's what they do. That's what they were doing when you blasted in here, started waving your weapon at them.

He pauses.

McCLAREN: You're scaring me.

The door from the corridor to the loading bay opens. Peter Watts enters.

HOLLIS: Watts.

He turns, perhaps surprised. Hollis strides over to him.

HOLLIS: This is it, isn't it? This place.

McCLAREN: Hollis.

WATTS: Sorry to intrude, Andy.

McCLAREN: Thought you were out of town.

WATTS: I was. I'll ... I'll touch base later.

He's clearly uncomfortable with the situation, and turns and leaves. Hollis goes after him into the corridor.

HOLLIS: Watts. Watts!

He doesn't stop.

HOLLIS: Watts! Hey! Hey, bald man!

He stops at that. Then walks back towards her.

WATTS: What is it, Agent Hollis?

HOLLIS: You didn't think I'd find this place, did you. Not without Frank.

Watts stands still. His typical faint smile.

HOLLIS: You thought you didn't have to worry. Well, your mistake, Watts! I made it.

Watts is now serious.

HOLLIS: You hear me?

He turns and walks away.

HOLLIS: Watts! I am here! I'm here, Watts! You hear me?

He continues walking.

MONK VO: We see what our karma allows us to see.

The hands in the ice.

MONK VO: The beauty of this world, and the terrors. Both illusions of our own making. The peaceful deities and wrathful. Mere projections, not real.